Tech layoffs may have been dying down, but they are still happening. Among the latest to conduct layoffs is Roku. In an attempt to cut costs, the streaming service is reducing its workforce as well as budget for content.
Roku's Money-Saving Tactics
In order to reduce its spending, the company decided to lay off 10% of its workforce, which is equivalent to more than 300 employees. This is not the first since Roku already laid off around 200 employees back in November 2022, and 200 more in March 2023.
The streaming company is not stopping there. In addition to reducing its work staff, a lot of streaming content will also be removed from the service, although the company did not disclose which movies and shows would be included in the cut.
It's possible that the affected content would be the ones developed in-house, or it could be from outside providers that the streaming platform negotiated a license with, both of which cost Roku a whole lot of money.
Roku is decreasing its outside service expenses and consolidating office space as well, as reported by Engadget. However, these changes, before they get to the saving part, would have to cost the company a lot of money first.
For instance, the company will have to pay a whopping $200 million for abandoning its office space. They will also have to issue severance checks to laid-off employees, which will cost up to $65 million, and another $65 million in impairment charges for deleting content.
The change has given Roku a stock price hike in the market as it saw a 9% increase, although that has since gone down to 4%. As of right now, that stock is still fluctuating, but it may just be part of Roku's plan to increase its third-quarter revenue.
Disney Also Recently Conducted Layoffs
The company has reinstated Bob Iger as its CEO to bring it back to its former glory. As part of Disney's attempts to become great again, it conducted a second round of layoffs back in late April 2023. This allowed the entertainment giant to save billions in operating costs.
The restructuring was meant to impact around 7,000 employees within the company, although it's unclear how many staff were terminated during the latest round of layoffs. The ultimate goal was for the company to reduce costs of up to $5.5 billion, according to Fox Business.
Several branches of the company were and will be affected including Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Disney Parks, Experiences, and Products. Many of the laid-off staff held leadership roles in Disney's businesses.
Those who worked in the product, technology, and data divisions of Disney+ and Hulu were let go, namely Jerrell Jimerson, Sean Curtis, and Jaya Kolhatkar. Some of the roles regarding the authority to release projects were also dissolved.
It was part of Iger's moves toward reversing some of the decisions that the previous Disney CEO, Bob Chapek made, including relieving the majority of the team that created Disney+, who were with the company for four years.
